Total posts: 5,766
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@Vader
Oh god, oh god
This answer is inadequate due to god not being a character in Endgame.
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Official Vote Count
User (5/5) - speedrace, cookie, ragnar, Supa, pie
Press (1/5)- user
Ragnar (1/5)- oro
User_2006 was lynched. User was innocent.
NP 1 has begun. Please stop posting immediately.
NP 1 will last until everyone has checked in. Submitting an action counts as a check-in.
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But only if you tell me who the real bad guy in Endgame was.
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Official Vote Count
User (3/5) - speedrace, cookie, ragnar
Press (1/5)- user
Ragnar (1/5)- oro
20 hours remain in the DP.
Ahh... fight the Ur-Quan! Win back our freedom! I remember having such thoughts myself... once, a long time ago. But that was in the first years after the defeat, when it was still terrifying to look up and see the bloody glow of the pulsating slave shield overhead. Through day and night we gazed up at that impenetrable wall as though the sheer power of our hatred would pull it down. But over the years, I spent so much of my time struggling -- down on the surface under the shield and then later up here, trying to keep this station alive -- that I'd forgotten what it means to be free... to hate our Ur-Quan Masters!
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@Dr.Franklin
Frankie this is not the place to be talking about PMS, also I think someone is trying to get between our great friendship by reporting our friendship posts...
But I assure you that no matter how mush communism you indulge in I will always hold our friendship dear to my heart.
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@Barney
(likely with some slight expansion of the main doxxing rule, for not sharing personally identifying information from PMs).
I don't think that is necessary due to the fact that sharing PII from PMs would already be a violation of the main doxxing rule but I wouldn't be against it. It would be very difficult to create a CoC that I thought stressed the no-doxxing rule too strongly.
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Official Vote Count
User (3/5) - ragnar, speedrace, cookie
When the Alliance lost the war, the Ur-Quan gave Earth a single choice; join the Hierarchy as Battle Thralls and fight for the Ur-Quan to enslave other sentient species or become `fallow' slaves, and be forever imprisoned on a single world encased in an impenetrable energy shield here on Earth...
We chose not to fight for the Ur-Quan.
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@Barney
This jibe exemplifies my issue with the current personal attacks rule.
I definitely like your proposed revision and would vote yes on it.
What more would you like to see on this?
I have never liked the idea of having any level of enforced secrecy regarding PM contents.
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@Jeff_Goldblum
2. This one is alien to me
As it stands now nobody is allowed to disclose the contents of their PMs to anyone else.
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@Dr.Franklin
no on 2
Communist
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Official Vote Count
PressF (1/5) - pie
Warren (1/5) - ragnar
Oromagi (1/5) - cookie
Ragnar (1/5) - user
Attention unidentified space vessel!
I am Starbase Commander Hayes of the slave planet Earth. Our hyperwave broadcasts -- extremely weak. Situation critical -- energy cores exhausted. Scanners and deep radar are non-functional. We cannot identify your vessel.
Are you the scheduled Hierarchy resupply ship?
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1) I agree with this and vote yes
2) I think this doesn't go far enough but is a step in the right direction, another yes vote.
3) Not that important to me. Abstain.
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@Barney
A related matter, how do you all feel about privacy of reports?I would like to be open and transparent on who is doing the reporting. There's even been a couple times I have come very close to revoking reporting privileges (such as the reports which inspired this thread).
The issue in the OP is complex and I have put very little thought into it, therefore I have no opinion on it. On this issue however I do have an opinion. I think that reports which fulfill both of the following should become open reports to discourage report harassment:
1) Blatantly unmerited due to the reported post being very obviously not a violation (borderline cases where it would be reasonable to think the reporting party could conceivably have incorrectly believed it to be a violation would not fit this requirement).
2) More than one of the reports are from the same user and frequent in nature (an exact definition for the word 'frequent', if one is even necessary, would probably be something like once a month or more).
Anything fulfilling one of these requirements but not the other should remain confidential in my opinion. Though I am sympathetic to the fact that these might be annoying for the mods even if they fulfill only the first I don't think that should be enough to reveal the identity of the reporting party.
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Welcome to Star Control Mafia. Rules for this game have already been listed in the sign-ups thread and will not be restated here. As I promised in the sign-up thread that I would provide a sample of a Town and Mafia PM, I will do so now:
Sample Town PM:
You are the [species] and your ship class is the [ship class]. [Description of species including role justification]. Your are the [role]. [Description of role]. You win with the Town.
Sample of Mafia PM:
You are the [species] and your ship class is the [ship class]. [Description of species including role justification]. Your are the [role]. [Description of role]. In addition to this you may communicate via PM with your partner [player] and choose for one of you to target a player with a kill action each night. You and your partner [player] win with the Mafia.
Living players:
1) SupaDudz
2) LittleCookie08
3) PressF4Respect
4) Ragnar
5) oromagi
6) iLikePie5
7) Speedrace
8) Warren42
9) User_2006
If you have any questions feel free to ask me via PM or by tagging me in the DP.
As stated in the rules this DP will last until there is a lynch or 72 hours from the DP being posted. Now, let the game begin!
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@ILikePie5
Working on PMs as we speak. About halfway done now.
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We have our 9. I will send out PMs this evening. If anyone else wants to sign up before then feel free to do so.
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@User_2006
I understand the usage of exaggeration in your poem, however based on my performance, I didn't add much to the game, did I?
There are many potentially valid reasons for you to not play. This is not one of them.
Alright, are you telling me to join?[Yes] / [No]
Personally I will not tell you to do anything. All I will do is point out that the game will be better if you join (even if you play poorly) as long as you don't intentionally ruin it (which I doubt you will knowing you).
Ultimately if you enjoyed playing the last game you should play this one if you are able to devote at least a few mins a day to doing so. If you did not enjoy the last one then don't join this one. Don't worry about others, they all suck too 😁.
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@crossed
I was wondering if my YouTube search algorithm was screwing with me.
You're the guy that was talking about that video of some satanist declaring that some city was about to be nuked last year right?
Yeah, your YT search algorithm is going to be pretty screwy if that is the kind of thing you search for on YT.
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@Dr.Franklin
If I offer to debate you on that will you accept?
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@Dr.Franklin
It's okay I will always be your friend Frankie.
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@Dr.Franklin
No they are not out of humanities control?
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@Dr.Franklin
The program is the issue and its out of our control
The computer programs are out of humanities control?
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1) SupaDudz
2) LittleCookie08
3) PressF4Respect
4) Ragnar
5) oromagi
6) iLikePie5
7) Speedrace
8) Warren
9)
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@Singularity
I am going to be brave and attend. My life is on the line, but I will not shut up
Very brave, but I just got word that Virt and blahmonkey are going to be doing their own live debate, something about burning dinosaur poop for fuel or something, at the same time we planned on having our public live debate. Care to push ours out another week?
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@Dr.Franklin
Did you disagree with him about something at some point? He has been blocking a lot of people for that.
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1) SupaDudz
2) LittleCookie08
3) PressF4Respect
4) Ragnar
5) oromag
6) iLikePie5
7) Speedrace
8)
9)
I would like at least 9 for balance reasons. 7 would be too hard to balance so I shan't start without at least 8 but 9 would be better.
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@warren42
@Speedrace
@WaterPhoenix
@Singularity
@User_2006
Signups for the next game are up.
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Current player list:
SupaDudz,
LittleCookie08
PressF4Respect
Ragnar
oromag
iLikePie5
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@Barney
@Vader
@oromagi
@PressF4Respect
@skittlez09
One of you please tag melcharaz and ask him if he is playing (he did not specify in his post whether he is in or not). If he does wish to play he will need to unblock me so I can send him PMs for the game.
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@PressF4Respect
[This message has been edited, so you can see if there is a tag]
Not on the new mobile version.
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@CaptainSceptic
If it is a full forfeit, why would one side be allowed to get any points?
If it is a full forfeit the side that did not forfeit gets the points.
In other words if you surrender you lose.
If you disagree with that policy please explain why as it seems to most to be rather intuitive.
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@Vader
@ILikePie5
Thank you for the PM pokes gentlemen.
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Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Star Control, a video game that none of you are likely to have heard of due to it being older than most of you but which is still quite a good game.
Basic setup:
1) There will be a theme dividing town andafia characters.
2) There will be no bastard mechanics (as defined by mafiascum wiki). This includes third party wincons.
3) Basic etiquette rules apply, though I think that the last site update made it impossible to tell whether a post has been edited rendering that rule unenforceable. If there is a way to tell whether a post has been edited on the mobile version please tell me.
4) Day phase lasts 72 hours (subject to possible extension by mod upon request) while night phase lasts until all living players have poked me via PM during the night (this should make night phases shorter in general).
5) The number of mafia will be revealed on DP 1.
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What do I think of implementing improved production processes that reduce the cost of goods?
Well I am a bit biased on the matter because I have to pay for said goods with money from my own pocket but personally I am in favor of such a thing.
Honestly I am not sure what all the fuss is about.
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@Marko
So, I looked at your ‘tomorrow’ post and found nothing to reassure me that tradeoffs don’t exist,
I haven't really made my 'tomorrow' post yet but probably will have done so by the end of the week. I have been working 55 to 57 hours a week for the last two months so meeting deadlines I set for myself on some debate website aren't exactly my top priority.
On a related note you can feel free to take your time in explaining why you think that technology wiping out humanity is likely enough to be a serious concern, there is no requirement that you do so within a set time period. Until you do so though you can't expect people to just nod in agreement.
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@Greyparrot
Sure. Still if I had to choose between cheap space flight for the masses or an immediate and permanent end to poverty and hunger I reckon I would choose the latter to come first. Problem for me is that I don't in reality see the two objectives as being inherently opposed but we can give Jeff a chance to explain why he does.
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@Greyparrot
Well in the case of threats some space such as meteors that becomes much less of a threat with increased space investment so I doubt he meant anything like that. He may not have meant threats of extinction at all in fact, in the debate he mentions poverty and hunger as specific examples if I remember right (neither of which carry any threat of extinction whatsoever though both are very real issues).
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As a side note I am rather unimpressed with the manned space vehicle component of NASA after they dropped the ball on Apollo and flipped the bird to Mars Direct, but the other bits of NASA are certainly worth keeping. Overall though I think the private sector beginning to take over some of the more routine NASA missions and pushing the current frontier is a good thing.
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@Jeff_Goldblum
Even with all this being said, I still think there are other issues more pressing and more demanding of our attention than space exploration.
You and many others seem quite convinced that addressing these other issues and pursuing investment in space are mutually exclusive, or at the very least that pursuing one makes the other more difficult. I have never understood where this conclusion came from. Do you mind explaining that a bit?
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In my first post I briefly covered my views on two of the common objections to space investment. I didn't really go in-depth as to the positive results of same, however, and I shall do so a bit now. The primary immediate benefit is of course standard of living improvements here on Earth. There are things that people take for granted in day-to-day life that are completely impossible without investment in space. Humans have over 2000 artificial satellites orbiting the planet providing communication services and GPS, both essential to our current high standards of living. In the very near future several projects in the works by Spacex will add to this list of things we take completely for granted. Rocket travel from one part of the globe to another will soon become cheaper and outrageously faster than travel by plane in the same way that travel by plane is faster than travel by train. More reliable internet services provided more cheaply by a series of satellites are just around the corner as well, much to the chagrin of astronomers that shall have to deal with trying to work around said satellites.
The same thing that makes these technologies so incredibly useful is sadly quite often the same thing that causes them to be so undervalued in society, that being their cheapness and resultant ubiquity. People don't think to themselves when they turn on their GPS "boy am I glad that there was a bunch of investment in space programs to provide me this convenience" and when they order a package to be shipped directly to their house from the other side of the planet within two days they certainly don't think "boy am I glad that there was a bunch of investment in space programs so that the logistics company that delivered my package was able to provide me this convenience". I doubt this is likely to change any time soon either. When people are getting their internet from space they will hardly think about the fact that it is coming from space any more than they think about where their internet comes from nowadays. The general public hardly ever gives a damn about such things until they stop working. Personally I find this lack of interest in the functioning of the world around us to be quite distressing but there we are anyway.
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@Marko
Your concerns aren't very specific or well-defined. Just a generalized "technology can be dangerous sometimes so if we have a lot of technology it might kill everyone... maybe... possibly... or possibly not who knows lol."
You will excuse me of course if this sentiment doesn't frighten me as much as you seem to have thought it might.
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@Marko
certainly wasn’t good for the Native North and South Americans.
To be perfectly fair there aren't many of those on Mars and Luna last I checked so I don't think that is really much of a concern in this case.
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@Marko
The benefits of prioritising space exploration might result in us reaching the objective of space travel and habitation, but it might also not.
Imagine Columbus returning from his voyage and the Spanish government saying "well we might be able to successfully make use of this new land you found if we try, but we also might not succeed".
Then imagine Columbus sitting there and saying "Yeah you're right. Guess we better not try. Right-o lads, burn the ships and go home we're done here".
How do you reckon that would change the history books?
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@Singularity
Is dodging the mob going to get in the way of our planned Discord meetup? We can postpone if you would like.
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My position on the subject is that investment for space flight missions from both public and private sectors with both scientific and economic goals is a net positive for humanity. The two most common objections to this in my experience are:
1) It's dangerous (therefore we shouldn't do it)
2) There are other things that we should do (therefore we shouldn't do it)
The first is valid only insofar as it is true. Space exploration is dangerous. Radiation, heat, lack of basic necessities such as oxygen or gravity... Space is a place that tries its best to kill anyone traveling it. I don't think the dangers of space flight come close to making a situation where the pros outweigh the cons, however.
The second seems outright wrong just on the face as it implies a dichotomy between space exploration and other issues whereby addressing one requires one to ignore the other. This is a dichotomy which I simply don't see as actually existing in real life.
That is a quick bare-bones version of what I think regarding the topic. I will go into a bit more detail tomorrow but in the meantime if anyone has any specific questions please ask. As for myself I would like to ask the following question: you mentioned that your opinion on the topic has been enriched by certain things since your debate with user. Would you mind going into that a bit more so I know where you are coming from?
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@TheRealNihilist
It seems like he has completely lost his mind.
Only in the metaphorical sense.
Anyway now that he has clarified his position in post 20 (again the misunderstanding was only 93% your fault, the remaining 7% being divided roughly equally between your elementary school reading teacher, your parents, and Mel's poor writing ability) what is your response to the proposition "forfeited debates should all result in ties"?
Assuming he doesn't block you for some random reason (apparently he blocked me a long time ago though I just recently noticed) you might be able to have a conversation with him on the topic now that you understand what he is actually saying rather than making some weird straw man of what he is saying.
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@TheRealNihilist
He is literally clarifying his claim. I don't understand what you mean? What is it if isn't a claim?
Is this to me? You tagged Mel.
I know he is wording his resolution very poorly, the misunderstanding really is not entirely your fault. It is only like 93% your fault at most. Just ask him the following question word-for-word if you want clarification (I cannot do so since he blocked me after post 8):
Which of the following statements would you agree with?A. Forfeited debates currently are not voted on. That is the way it is.B. Forfeited debates ought to be not voted on. That is the way it should be.
If you ask him that question word-for-word he will select B. I mean, well there are other possible responses too I guess... He might ignore you, block you, dodge the question, etc. but the point is he certainly won't select option A.
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